Blog – Page 14 of 60 – Adventure Quilter

Slicing and Dicing: Now Where Was I?

By Ellen Lindner on December 27, 2021 in Uncategorized

After starting a new quilt at a retreat, it was time to continue at home. Now, where was I? Something like this.

I studied the arrangement and knew I wanted to change a few things. (Remember the abundance of that favorite fabric bottom left?) While that was percolating in my brain, I looked for areas that needed a little more energy. I altered a few with skinny lines.

Notice the black “horizontal” line on the left of this unit. Can you see it’s been altered to be jagged? All I did was add 2 tucks in the back. That added some character, but also made the unit 1″ skinnier.

What should go where? There never seems to be a RIGHT answer. Just interesting ones. Like this top right corner. If I were to use this piece, which way should it go?

Sometimes there’s a structural reason to do things, for instance if too many seams are coming together in one spot. But, generally, I go with whatever fits best or appeals to me most at the moment. I do study things a lot as I go! (See what I did with this piece in the last photo, top right corner.)

Remember how, at the retreat, I gathered all the brightest fabrics near the center? I liked that, but realized I’d never really considered any other alternatives. Before I got too far along I decided to audition the pieces with blue in the center.

Interesting. But not better. I stuck with what I had.

I continued altering, adding, slicing when needed, and getting things to fit. Here it is nearly complete, with four big units ready to be sewn together. I was quite happy with it.

Quilting soon!

BTW (by the way,) I generally think about names as I’m working on a piece. This one reminds me of light through spring leaves. Hmm, Canopy? Spring? Dappled Light? Your thoughts?

Ellen Lindner

Slicing and Dicing in Winter Park

By Ellen Lindner on December 19, 2021 in Uncategorized

While on a recent retreat in Winter Park, FL, I started on a new abstract quilt. These were the fabrics I took from home.

There are more here than I would need, but I wanted to have options. I was sure to include both light and dark fabrics. I auditioned them on my design wall, which gave me the opportunity to think about color proportions, as well. Very useful.

At the retreat, I got to work.

A Fabulous Retreat! Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

This was my work space, complete with a travel sized design wall.

After cutting fabrics in the proportions I wanted I began to sew them into pairs.

Then, I began to slice into some of them, adding skinny strips. These added a lot of energy. Nice!

After quite a bit of slicing, dicing, and alterations, it was time to look at them as a whole. I arranged them with my favorite/starting fabric in the middle. At this point, I was just trying to get a feel for what I had. Was there enough variety of “block” sizes? Were there empty spaces that needed some altering?

I realized I could make my favorite/featured fabric join together into a long line. But was that good thing? Hmm.

I pretty quickly decided that the line was too predictable, so it was out. But, I also realized that my FAVORITE fabric was duller than all the others. I’d need to scale it back. So, I moved my very brightest fabrics to the center. MUCH better!

But, some of that favorite fabric would need to go. Can you see it on the left? Have you heard the saying, “If a combination is not working, remove your favorite thing.?” Yep, that’s where I was. Maybe I could cut it into smaller pieces?

This is where I left it at the end of retreat. Of course, I had to take it all off the design wall to get it home, but I took a bunch of pictures.

This is a fun, but sometimes challenging, way to work. I was excited to continue with it.

Ellen Lindner

“Design Your Own Nature Quilt” near Chicago – Part Two

By Ellen Lindner on December 7, 2021 in Uncategorized

My Chicago area “Design Your Own Nature Quilt” students brought their artistic courage to class, and made some really great work. (These photos were showing on my computer when photographed. The quality is sometimes low, but you’ll get the idea.)

"Design Your Own Nature Quilt" near Chicago. A class with Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com

Sue did a great job with her tree frog. She constructed him with fusible web on some release paper. (See the white outline?) Once she removes that he’ll be a little slimmer.

If I remember correctly Terre had never made an art quilt before. But, didn’t she do a great job? She fully embraced “jagged cutting” the mountain tops, which worked beautifully.

Deborah had never made any sort of quilt before! However, she bravely embraced fusible web, jagged cutting, and abstracted rhododendron flowers. (Don’t they look better than some perfect fussy cut version?)

Deborah’s inspiration photo.

This photo of Susan’s work doesn’t begin to do it justice. She’s working on a rock face, snow with shadows, a lake, and – the missing items – tall evergreen trees. It’s going to be a lovely composition.

Beth took a lot of artistic license with her cactus grouping, which worked really well. She had a pleated scrap that made great texture for one of the plants. See her finished piece in the “Design Your Own Nature” gallery. (Link at bottom of post.)

Cindy also worked on a desert scene. She used mostly solids to capture the austere beauty. She’ll use fusible web to secure the spiky plant. Won’t it be great?

Although Frances’ image was simple in composition, it wasn’t simple to construct. She did an excellent job capturing the subtleties of variation in the sky and snow.

My students always do an awesome job and these were no different. It sure makes it fun for me!

Ellen Lindner
P.S. See Beth’s finished piece, and others, in the Design Your Own Nature Quilt gallery.

MUST Use These Scraps!

By Ellen Lindner on December 4, 2021 in Uncategorized

A Little Bit Tart

After completing A Little Bit Tart, I had a nice collection of very interesting – and already pieced – scraps. Of course, I had to do something with them!

See what I mean? I decided I could add a lot of blue as the primary color and get an interesting result.

I auditioned additional blue fabrics.

Then it was time for a big Tetris game (puzzle.) What could fit where? My decisions were driven by geometry and a desire to group the red shapes.

Some decisions were pretty obvious. Others took quite a bit if finagling. I made additional pieced shapes to fill in the gaps where needed.

I did lots of auditioning and pieced things together only when I was completely sure.

And, ta-da! This is what I ended up with.

I really like it, and I named it Regatta. (Can you see it?)

Check my website to see it completely finished and quilted. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Ellen Lindner

“Design Your Own Nature Quilt” near Chicago

By Ellen Lindner on December 2, 2021 in Uncategorized

Last month I got to spend two and half days with members of the North Suburban Needle Arts Guild when I conducted my class, Design Your Own Nature Quilt. Because this group includes many non-quilters there was quite a mix of skill levels in the class. About half had never made an art quilt and several had never made a quilt of any sort! But, they all bravely dove in and they achieved EXCELLENT results.

In this class, each student brings their own inspiration photo, which means we’ve got 15 DIFFERENT projects going all the time. It keeps me on my toes, but I love it. They learn so much in this class!

I wish I had thought to photograph their inspiration photos, rather than just their resulting quilts. (These photos were showing on my computer when photographed. The quality is sometimes low, but you’ll get the idea.)

Gretchen was inspired by a photo of water lilies. She changed the nearly black water to a dark plum, which worked beautifully. She’ll use fusible web to add the skinny little grasses, and she’ll stiffen some of the leaves to make them 3D. It will be great!

Ronna also worked with water lilies, and also switched to purple water. This complementary color really adds drama and contrast. And check out how effective those black shadows are. Nice!

Val’s lily pads are coming along nicely. She’ll add some shadows to add dimension. Check out her water grasses and their reflection near the top. She spent a lot of time on them and I think they’re very effective.

This photo doesn’t do Barbara’s work justice. Her photo had three delicate flowers against a complex shadow. She had to work at providing contrast with value. Her later progress showed that she was moving in the right direction.

Nancy cut loose in a really wonderful way. She started working with solids, but needed some dappled light. As we searched her print fabrics she realized that she had quite a big selection of them, so she switched gears. This brought a lot of energy to her scene. She’ll add some thread-painted grasses in the foreground.

See Nancy’s completed quilt in the student gallery.

Nancy’s inspiration photo

These ladies really embraced our class motto: Be inspired by your photo, not controlled by it. Way to go ladies!

Look for more examples in my next post.

Ellen Lindner

A Fabulous Retreat! Part Two

By Ellen Lindner on November 27, 2021 in Uncategorized

The energy was high at our recent retreat. Everyone enjoyed working on their own projects as well as learning new things.

Here are some more projects in-progress around the room.

Doris added some thread painting to her piece.

Ruth Anne was working on doll faces.

This was my work space, complete with a travel sized design wall.

Each night we had some sort of group activity. The first night included silly ice breaking style games. Lots of laughter and great door prizes! The second night (and again on the third) we had wine and cheese. It was nice because participants stopped working and just enjoyed visiting. Good socializing! The third night was Show and Tell, primarily with things brought from home. Here are some photos.

Joan showed us her self-portrait. The slightly sad expression is indicative of the hard year Joan has had.

Anne made this from start to finish at the retreat!

Peggy showed off a framed 3D floral piece. (Purple, of course.)

Claudia is working on a triptych about a forest after a fire. Her quilt holders had a little fun raising and lowering her pieces.

Pat showed a small piece inspired by stained glass.

This is what my design wall looked like near the end of the retreat. Much more rearranging and figuring yet to be done, but I really enjoyed the challenge of working on this piece!

It was SO wonderful to be with other quilters and to have time completely devoted to our craft. I can’t wait til the next one!

Ellen Lindner

A Fabulous Retreat! Part One

By Ellen Lindner on November 22, 2021 in Uncategorized

I recently got to attend a 3-day retreat with my SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) regional (Florida) group. Oh my, it was SO wonderful! The scenery, facilities, meals, workshop, demonstrations, and CAMARADERIE were all fantastic! I think the recent lock down made us all that much more elated to be together again. We did enjoy it so!

We had a well-lit and large room where all 28 of us had plenty of room to work and socially distance.

This photo shows about 2/3 of the room.

We worked on our own projects and also had several opportunities for learning. The highlight was a 4 hour workshop presented by Bobbi Baugh.

Work by Bobbi Baugh, bobbibaughstudio.com

Becoming One with the Night, by Bobbi Baugh

She taught us for 2 hours on Saturday, about the concept or story of our artwork. Something I tend to overlook. The next day she taught us for 2 hours about composition. This was VERY useful, even for those who had art degrees.

As I Have Trusted Morning, by Bobbi Baugh

The slides Bobbi showed were excellent examples of what she was presenting. I can’t recommend her highly enough! (Even though I didn’t take a picture of her.)

We had several short demonstrations: hand embroidery from Laura Parkel, 3D vessels from Joan Engel, and working with tulle from Jan Lipsky. These were well attended and quite interesting.

Joan showing us how to make 3D vessels.

In addition, two people were using interesting techniques which others wanted to learn, so they did “pop up” demos for us. Linda Geiger taught us how to intentionally make fabric pucker and Ellen Nepustil showed us how to make paper shells.

Ellen working on a shell. The one on the table is dry and complete.

While everyone was distracted during one of the demos, I took photos of some of the projects going on in the room.

Becky needle-felted flowers. The dark background MADE them!

Sharon hand stitched hexagons.

I forget who made this. If you know, please tell me.

Marian combined her own printed fabric with scraps.

Laura worked on a bouquet.

A Fabulous Retreat! Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Peggy PATIENTLY made bobbin lace.

A Fabulous Retreat! Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Can’t you feel the energy and creativity? I’ll show you more in the next post.

Ellen Lindner

“Draw Bridge Ahead”

By Ellen Lindner on November 1, 2021 in Uncategorized

After making an abstract quilt I had lots of interesting scraps, so I used them to make two more quilts. This was the first one. Just like its “parent” it was all improvisationally pieced. (That is, pieced without a pattern or plan.)

This tiny quilt is only 7″ x 10″, because it will be part of the SAQA trunk show. I love the idea of sending these small sampler-type quilts around to educate people about what art quilts are.

And, because my quilt was so small I didn’t mind adding some heavy stitching.

Ellen Lindner

Taping an Episode of “The Quilt Show.”

By Ellen Lindner on October 22, 2021 in Uncategorized

I’m just back from Austin, TX, where I taped an episode of “The Quilt Show!” Oh my, it was very exciting.

You’re probably familiar with the two hosts, Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims. Quilting royalty!

If you’re not familiar with “The Quilt Show” you’ll definitely want to check it out. It’s an online quilt show that you subscribe to. What’s great about it is the episodes live online forever, so you have access to an ABUNDANCE of shows.

This episode was shot on location at a luxury home. What’s funny is they ended up taping…wait for it…in the DRIVEWAY!

But, it was no ordinary driveway and the backdrop for the intro session was absolutely gorgeous.

And what about the demo segments? They were all shot in front of the garage! But again, not just any garage. It was a huge two story structure with beautiful wooden swinging doors.

Well, of course this WAS Texas, and it DOES get rather warm in the afternoons, so we had to deal with that. But, no one melted. I kept my fan handy all day and used it quite a bit. (That’s it in my hand, above.)

As I prepped for the fourth segment, I had my tea and fan handy, while I put Mary Kay to work mixing glue.

They wanted a photo of me in front of one of my quilts and selected Crotons. That made me happy, since it’s one of my favorite quilts AND it’s on the home page of my website.

Not a bad photo, I think. My sister served as my “stylist,” loaning me both the shirt and the earrings, and gifting me with the necklace. And my hair dresser came in on her day off to give me a timely haircut. Aren’t they the best?

No idea, yet, on when the episode will be available, but you KNOW I’ll be letting you know when it is!

A very fun adventure, for sure!

Ellen Lindner

Ballooning in Idaho – What a Ride!

By Ellen Lindner on October 3, 2021 in Uncategorized

While on our vacation out west, my husband and I got to go on a hot air balloon ride! It was EXHILARATING! And very interesting! We both really enjoyed it.

We met the crew of Elevated Ballooning at 6:30 AM, when it was only 27 degrees! This Floridian was wearing six layers of clothing, which did the trick.

Ballooning in Idaho. Ellen Lindner, AdventureQuilter.com/blog

Fly Girls

Our pilot, Margaret, was very experienced and skilled. She was a MASTER (mistress?) of reading the fine nuances of what she called micro weather. (Wind currents and directions to the rest of us.) My husband immediately told her that I’m also a pilot (fixed wing) so she explained many things to us.

She and her crew of two had a very efficient and well-rehearsed process for setting everything up. My husband, Kevin, got to help them, while I took photos. After setting up the passenger basket and attaching it to the balloon “envelope,” it was time to inflate the balloon. They hauled out a big fan with its own generator to fill it up.

We drifted over tiny Griggs, Idaho, and didn’t even notice our smoky view. Everything about the experience was mesmerizing!

At one point we were moving across corn fields at a pretty good clip. Yeehaw!

Margaret was actually a little worried about having a high speed landing and told us how to crouch and where to hold on in case this happened! But, she was SO GOOD at reading the wind and making use of the natural wind breaks in our surroundings that she got us slowed down to a complete hover for landing. Then, we just gently plopped down. Amazing!

Of course, there was quite a procedure to getting everything put away and Kevin, again, helped with this.

The balloon envelope alone weighs 300 pounds. After bagging it up we were invited to sit on this 300 pound “bean bag” chair for a photo op.

We finished off our adventure with a toast of champagne and orange juice, a ballooning tradition.

http://adventurequilter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/balloon-video-great.mov

Elevated Ballooning Crew

This was, by far, the highlight of our trip and I highly recommend it!

Ellen Lindner

← Previous 1 … 13 14 15 … 60 Next →

Navigation

Adventure Quilter

Slicing and Dicing: Now Where Was I?

Slicing and Dicing in Winter Park

“Design Your Own Nature Quilt” near Chicago – Part Two

MUST Use These Scraps!

“Design Your Own Nature Quilt” near Chicago

A Fabulous Retreat! Part Two

A Fabulous Retreat! Part One

“Draw Bridge Ahead”

Taping an Episode of “The Quilt Show.”

Ballooning in Idaho – What a Ride!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Search the blog: